Vertically adjustable supporting means



Dec. 19, 1967 s. E. JOHNSSON VERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE SUPPORTING MEANS Filed March 16, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 19, 1967 s. E. JOHNSSON 3,358,848

VERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE SUPPORTING MEANS Filed March 16, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent C 3,358,848 VERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE SUPPORTING MEANS Sven Erik Johnsson, Varnamo, Sweden, assignor to ETH Maskin AB, Varnarno, Sweden Filed Mar. 16, 1966, Ser. No. 534,754 1 Claim. (Cl. 211-177) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vertically adjustable support structure, easily assembled and disassembled, comprised of a horizontal member supported by two free standing legs. Each leg contains a plurality of vertically spaced holes cut out in the shape of the Greek cross, i.e. equal horizontal and vertical arms. The horizontal member is a cross beam with a pair of T- shaped extensions in vertical disposition at each end. TWo separate cross-shaped holes receive the T-shaped extensions at each end of the horizontal member, but not the body of the member. The T-shaped extensions are slotted so that when fully inserted into the cross-shaped holes they will drop down over the edges thereof, whereby withdrawal is prevented unless the horizontal member is first lifted.

This invention relates to supporting assemblies and particularly to the supporting means used in such assemblies and vertically adjustable along vertical rows of holes in a pair of opposed, horizontally spaced and substantially vertical walls, such as the walls of uprights or posts.

The present invention has for its object to provide improved supporting means for use in supporting assemblies and of such a construction as to permit firm and easy connection of the supporting means with one pair of opposed, horizontally spaced and substantially vertical supporting walls.

A further object of the invention is to provide a supporting assembly in which the supporting means as outlined above include means adapted for firm retention in holes provided therefor in the spaced vertical supporting walls and for convenient and easy detachment therefrom for permitting adjustment of the supporting means into different height positions.

For the realization of these and such further objects as will appear from the following description, the invention relates to a supporting assembly comprising, in combination, supporting means including a pair of opposed and horizontally spaced and substantially vertical walls, at least one bridging member extending substantially horizontally between the walls, mounting means comprising at least one vertical row of holes in each of the opposed walls, each of the holes being in the form of a Greek cross with a vertically extending slot portion and at right angles thereto a horizontally extending slot portion, the bridging member having at least adjacent each of its ends a portion with the cross section of an I-beam, the flanges of which are vertically spaced a distance equal to a factor corresponding to one or more whole numbers of the spacing of the holes in the row and being greater in width than the length of the horizontal slot portions of the holes, each end of said I-beams having a pair of elongations each in the shape of a T-beam and both formed by recessing the end portion of said web of the I-beam, the flanges and the webs of said pair of T-beams forming elongations of the flanges and web, respectively, of the I-beam but being of lesser width and length, respectively, than that of the I-beam, the flanges of the T-beams being slightly smaller in width than the length of the horizontal slot portions of the holes in the supporting wall and the web of the T-beams being of substantially smaller height than the length of the vertical slot portions of said holes so that the T-beam portions are insertable each into one ice of two superimposed holes in the supporting wall, and that the web of the upper T-beam has a slot extending vertically from the lower edge thereof, the flanges of th lower T-beam having on opposite sides of the Web one pair of opposed slots positioned in the vertical plane of said vertical web slot and extending horizontally inwardly from the edges of said flanges, each of the web and flange slots having a width slightly greater than the thickness of the supporting wall, the horizontal space between the inner ends of the slots in the flange of the lower T-beam being slightly smaller than the width of the vertical slot portions of the hole in the supporting wall, whereby said pair of T-beams after insertion into said superimposed holes in the supporting walls are adapted to be settled down so that the webs of the T-beams with its lower edges are seated on the bottom walls of the vertical slot portions of said holes and the flanges of the T-beams are seated on the bottom walls of the horizontal slot portions of said holes, while the ends portions of said Web of the upper T-beam and said flanges of the lower T-beam are adapted to prevent unintentional withdrawal of the bridging member from said supporting walls.

To permit insertion of such a supporting means between said pair of opposed walls and engagement thereof in two holes in each wall, whereby the walls and supporting means will be firmly kept together, the slot in at least one end of the supporting means has in accordance with the invention such a depth counted from the portion of the I-beam cross section that the two web portions can be inserted such a distance horizontally in their holes that the other end of the supporting means can be moved inside the opposed wall and then by longitudinal displacement of the supporting means in the opposite sense be inserted in holes in said opposed wall.

For better elucidation of the invention as to its objects and advantages the invention will be described more in detail in the following, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an assembly provided with supporting means constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the foot plates on which the walls or uprights or posts are erected;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view on a larger scale of a supporting means as shown in FIG. 1 and mounted in the assembly.

In the supporting assembly shown in the drawings a supporting member 1 bridges and is carried by the fac ing vertical walls of two uprights or posts 2. In each of these vertical supporting walls is formed a vertical row of holes 3 having each the shape of a Greek cross. Each of the cross-shaped holes thus have vertical and horizontal slot portions 4 and 5, respectively, of equal length. The supporting or bridging member 1 has substantially the shape of an I-beam, FIG. 3, the web of which is provided at each end with a recess 7 and 8, respectively, extending inwardly from the end of the web. The height of the recess from the upper to the lower edges thereof exceeds the distance from the lower portion of a hole 3 to the upper portion of a subjacent hole 3 in each upright 2. The height of the portion 9 of the web 6 which is situated above the recess 7 and 8, respectively, together with the upper flange 10 of the I-beam is smaller than the distance between the lower end of the lower vertical slot portion 4 of a hole 3 and the upper edge 19 of the horizontal slot portions of the hole so that said portion 9 of the web together with the flange 10 can be passed into the respective portion of a hole 2. The height of the portion 11 of the web beneath the recess 7 together with the lower flange 12 is likewise smaller than the distance between the upper end of the upper vertical slot portion 4 of a hole and the lower edge of the'horizontal slot portions 5 of a hole 3 so that said portion 11 of the web and the flange 12 can be inserted in a hole. As can be seen in FIG. 3 each end portion of the I-beam thus has the shape of a T-beam, the flanges and webs of which form elongations of the flanges and web, respectively, of the I-beam. The distance between the top surface of the upper flange 10 and the lower surface of the lower flange 12 is slightly smaller than the distance between the upper edges 9 of the horizontal slot portions 5 of each hole 3 and the lower edges 13 of the horizontal slot portions 5 of said subjacent hole. This will make it possible to insert the web 9 and the associated flange 10 of the upper T-beam shaped end projections at each end of the I-beam in a hole simultaneously as the lower T-beam shaped end projection formed by the web portion 11 together with the flange portion 12 can be inserted in the respective portions of said subjacent hole. As will appear from FIG. 3 the flange 12 has notches 14 extending inwardly from the two lateral edges of the flange and of such a length that the distance between the inner ends of the two notches is smaller than the width of a vertical slot portion 4 of the hole 3. Also, the upper end portion 9 of the web 6 has a downwardly open notch 15 opposite the notch 14, said downwardly open notch 15 starting from the recess 7, 8, respectively. After the two portions 9 and 11 of the web and the associated flanges 10 and 12, respectively, have been passed each into one hole 3 and into such position that the notches 14 and 15 are opposite the material of the upright or post the supporting or bridging member 1 can be lowered so that the downwardly open notch 15 straddles the wall material of the upright or post 2 beneath the lower portion of the upper hole 3 while the notch 14 is simultaneously passed over the inwardly projecting corners 16 between the downwardly directed vertical slot portion 4 and the two horizontal slot portions 5 of the hole 3 and the subjacent hole 3. Said corners 16 can be rounded off.

In order that the two ends of the supporting or bridging member 1 may be inserted in holes 3 in the two uprights or post 2 the recess 7, as will appear from FIG. 3, is extended some distance past the notches 14 and 15 so that the portions 9 and 11 and the associated parts of the flanges 10 and 12 can be moved so far into the holes 3 that said notches 14, 15 pass the hole whereupon the other end of the supporting or bridging member 2 can be moved inside the vertical wall of the opposed upright or post 2 and when the supporting or bridging member 1 is moved back horizontally in the longitudinal direction the recess 8 and the associated portions 9 and 11, respectively, of the web 6 will be inserted in holes 3 in the upright or post 2 to the right in FIG. 1 and the notches will be hooked on the wall material of the uprights or posts.

The holes 3 should of course be formed spaced apart with a spacing corresponding to the distance between the portions 9 and 11 of the web 6 but, as will appear from FIG. 1, the holes 3 in the row can also be cut with smaller spacing so that there are left between such pair of holes in which the web portions 9 and 11 are to be inserted further empty holes. This will increase the number of height positions into which the supporting or bridging member 1 can be adjusted.

It is also apparent from FIGS. 2 and 3 that the flanges 10 and 12 are of smaller width than the flanges of the I-beam, ie at those end parts of the supporting or bridging member 1 which are to be inserted in the holes 3.

As will be seen from FIG. 1 each upright or post 2 may be made from sheet metal of channel section, two opposed walls in the upright or post being provided with punched out holes 3 in the shape of a Greek cross. This makes it possible to mount supporting or bridging members 1 on both sides of the upright or post 2.

These uprights or posts 2 of rectangular cross section may be placed on special foot plates 17 shown in FIGS.

1 and 2. Lugs 18 punched out of the foot plate penetrate into the interior of the upright or post securing it relatively to the foot plate.

While the invention has been described in a single embodiment described above and shown in the drawing it is understood by those skilled in the art that this embodiment has been chosen but as an example and therefore permits of modification. Thus the upper flange portion 16 can be provided with notches corresponding to the notch 14 while the lower web portion 11 is provided with a downwardly open notch extending outwardly through the lower flange portion 12.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a supporting assembly the combination of supporting means including a pair of opposed and horizontally spaced and substantially vertical walls, at least one bridging member extending ubstantially horizontally between the walls, mounting means comprising at least one vertical row of holes in each of the opposed walls, each of the holes being in the form of a Greek cross with a vertically extending slot portion and at right angles thereto a horizontally extending slot portion, the bridging member having at least adjacent each of its ends a portion with the cross section of an I-bearn, the flanges of which are vertically spaced a distance equal to a factor corresponding to one or more whole numbers of the spacing of the holes in the walls and being greater in Width than the length of the horizontal slot portions of the holes, each end of said I-bearn having a pair of elongations each in the shape of a T-beam and both formed by recessing the end portions of said Web of the I-beam, the flanges and the webs of said pair of T-beams forming elongations of the flanges and web, respectively, of the I-beam but being of lesser width and length, respectively, the flanges of the T-beams being slightly smaller in width than the length of the horizontal slot portions of the holes in the upporting wall and the web of the T-beams being of substantially smaller height than the length of the vertical slot portions of said holes so that the T-beam portions are insertable each into one of two superimposed holes in the supporting wall, and that the web of the upper T-beam has a slot extending vertically from the lower edge thereof, the flanges of the lower T-beam having on opposite sides of the web one pair of opposed slots positioned in the vertical plane of said vertical web slot and extending horizontally inwardly from the edges of said flanges, each of the web and flange slots having a width slightly greater than the thickness of the supporting wall, the horizontal space between the inner ends of the slots in the flanges of the lower T-beam being slightly smaller than the width of the vertical slot portions of the hole in the supporting wall, whereby said pair of T-beams after insertion into said superimposed holes in the supporting wall are adapted to be settled down so that the webs of the lower T-beams with their lower flanges are seated on the bottom walls of the vertical slot portions of said holes and the flanges of the upper T-beams are seated on the bottom walls of the horizontal slot portions of said holes, while the end portions of said Web of the upper T-bearn and said flanges of the lower T-beam are adapted to prevent unintentional withdrawal of the bridging member from said supporting walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,473,817 11/1923 Goraline 108-157 3,045,834 7/1962 Seiz 211-448 JOHN PETO, Primary Examiner.

W. D. LOULAN, Assistant Examiner. 

